i. project id viva florida demonstration garden at stetson...

I. PROJECT ID

Viva Florida Demonstration Garden at Stetson University (GIL1158)

II. Project Managers contact information:

Karen Cole, Ph.D., Director Cindy Bennington, Ph.D., Professor

Gillespie Museum, Stetson University Biology Department, Stetson University

234 East Michigan Avenue 241 North Woodland Boulevard

DeLand FL 32720 DeLand FL 32720

[email protected] 386.822.7330 [email protected] 386.822.8179

Name of Botanical Garden….where demonstration garden will be located

Volusia Sandhill Ecosystem: A Teaching Landscape at the Gillespie Museum, Stetson University

III. PROJECT OVERVIEW

1. Provide a complete list of plants used in the demonstration garden; indicate those that were purchased with grant funds.

Containerized plants purchased with grant funds:

Florida Paintbrush (Carphephorus corymbosus)

Shortleaf gayfeather (Liatris tenuifolia)

Slender gayfeather (Liatris gracilis)

Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Coastal-plain palafox (Palafoxi integrifolia)

Greeneyes (Berlandiera subacaulis)

Sweet Goldenrod (Solidago odora)

Twinflower (Dyschoriste oblongifolia)

Ironweed (Vernonia angustifolia)

Seeds purchased with grant funds:

Super Nova Scrub mix

Lanceleaf tickseed (Coreopsis lanceolata)


Manyflower beardtongue (Penstemon mulitflorus)

Beebalm (Monarda punctata)

Slender gayfeather (Liatris gracilis)

Containerized plants planted in Fall 2015, not purchased with grant funds:

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Dense gayfeather (Liatris spicata)

Pennyroyal (Piloblephis rigida)

Chapman’s gayfeather (Liatris chapmanii)

Shortleaf gayfeather (Liatris tenuifolia)

Manyflower beardtongue (Penstemon multiflorus)

Pennyroyal (Piloblephis rigida)

Lanceleaf tickseed (Coreopsis lanceolata)

Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Beardtongue (Penstemon australis)

Standing cypress (Ipomopsis rubra)


Pinelands milkweed (Asclepias humistrata)

Feay’s prairie clover (Dalea feayi)

Florida paintbrush (Carphephorus corymbosus)

1. Provide a detail of site preparation, construction and installation methods. Our wildflower garden site was previously planted in bahia grass. In the first week of September 2014, and again two weeks later, herbicide was applied to the entire 500 m2 area. Beginning in late September, in the three areas demarcated for seed beds (1 @ 4 X 7m and 2 @ 5 X 10m), volunteers removed the dead grass with hoes and shovels. In areas set aside for containerized plants, we covered the dead grass with thick paper covered by landscape cloth to reduce invasion by weeds. On October 17 and 31 we planted containerized plants, cutting through the landscape cloth and digging individual holes for each plant. On the same days of planting the containerized plants, volunteers sowed seed in the three seed beds, laying burlap over the soil in two of them prior to sowing seed. We mixed the seed thoroughly with a small amount of sand prior to sowing to improve the distribution of sown seeds, and potentially scarify the partridge pea seeds. We added a few additional containerized plants (see list above) in the fall of 2015.

2. Indicate if and how the final demonstration garden design varies from the original

design submitted with your grant application. There are three main ways in which our final demonstration garden differs from the one we proposed. First, while our original design accounted for the future construction of a sidewalk through the garden, we did not anticipate that the sidewalk would additionally make a small loop on the northwestern edge of the garden. That small loop has allowed us to create a Wildflower Study Site, planted densely in wildflowers identified by signs. Secondly, we imagined that we would have greater success in our seed beds than was realized. Although we sowed seeds of 13 different species (eight in the Super Nova Scrub mix and five others from individual packets), only one species, partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata), successfully colonized the garden. Finally, in site preparation, due to time constraints and preferences of the facilities crew, an herbicide application (glyphosate) rather than solarization was used for grass and weed removal.

IV. 2015 ATTENDANCE 1. Estimate the number of visitors to your garden or facility between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2015:

a. Total number of visitors: To the Gillespie Museum and Rinker Environmental Learning Center: 10,200 b. What percentage were Florida residents? (estimate) 80% c. What percentage were non-Florida residents? (estimate) 20%

2. Estimate the number of visitors to the native wildflower demonstration area between Jan. 1, 2015 and Dec. 31, 2015:

a. Total number of visitors: includes Volunteers, Educational Program Participants, and Casual Visitors: 1860 b. What percentage were Florida residents? (estimate) 80% c. What percentage were non-Florida residents? (estimate) 20%

3. Estimate what percentage of your total attendance was comprised of each of the following groups:

75% or more of

audience 50-75% 25-50% Less than

25%

Children/school groups 60% Adult plant/gardening enthusiasts 15% Adult (general) 10% Other* (Stetson Undergraduates) 15%

* If other, please describe.

V. EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS & MATERIALS

1. List and explain any and all educational programs offered in 2015 that incorporated the wildflower demonstration garden, including an estimate of the attendance for each program.

Date Event Attendance

2/9 Science Saturday: Save a Sandhill

60

4/17 Beta Test of New Outdoor Classroom Activities with lower elementary students

10

4/18 Earth Day at the Gillespie Museum (Opening of Stetson Seed Library)

125

4/24 Arbor Day Planting in the Sandhill 18

6/16 Summer Outdoor Classroom: Bees, Butterflies, and Other Pollinators

25

6/25 Summer Outdoor Classroom: Seeds of Change

15

9/15 Stetson Values Day Workshop: Why Native Ecosystems Matter

30

9/24 Opening Reception for Sandhill Symphony: A Natural History of High Pine

60

9/26 Science Saturday: Public Opening of Sandhill Symphony (Smithsonian Museum Day)

150

10/22 Science Café: Our Amazing Arachnids 54

10/31 Science Saturday: Mostly Green Halloween

150

11/19 Science Café: Sandhill Science, Restoration and Research in the Sandhill Ecosystem

30

11/10- 12/5

Undergraduate credit: Sandhill Symphony Scavenger Hunt (gallery walk and landscape hike)

50

The events listed in this table include public educational programming. As indicated in other sections of this report, the site has also been used in a variety of ways for class projects and undergraduate research laboratory for a range of courses, involving over the past 15 months nearly 200 Stetson undergraduates.

2. List and explain any and all educational or informational signs that were installed that explain the wildflower demonstration garden and its environmental, historical and/or cultural significance.

Along the new path through the teaching landscape, installation of seven new interpretive signs: Volusia Sandhill Teaching Landscape: Restoring an Ecosystem/Building a Community*; A Sandhill’s Web of Life*; How does Longleaf Pine Tree Grow?; Longleaf Pine Sandhills: Ancient Ecosystems with a Diverse Understory; A Sandhill Community Depends on Fire; How do Plants Protect Themselves. (* Denotes signs in the Viva Florida Demonstration Garden)

In Viva Florida Wildflower Demonstration Garden, added 80 plant tags (weatherproof, 1 ½ x 3 ¼; 11 inches in height).

Throughout the site, placement of 25 storyboard signs (6 x 9” chalkboards) with informal captions, developed and written by undergraduate plant ecology students. Sample captions from Demonstration Garden: “This teaching loop provides a front row seat for observing natives.” “Ironweed (Vernonia angustifolia) I am a beautiful, prairie wildflower. I’m also very fibrous, and tough like iron.”

3. List and explain any and all educational or informational brochures or pamphlets that were created to explain the wildflower demonstration garden and its environmental, historical and/or cultural significance? Include information on their specific use.

Why Plant Native? (8 ½ x 11” color, trifold brochure) Subheadings: Native Defined; Native Wildflowers Add Color to a Landscape(with photos of some recommended species); Eradicate Invasive Exotics from Your Yard; Consider Replacing Exotics with Native Species (table of recommended substitutions); List of Native Plant Nurseries in West Volusia County. (This brochure funded by Kathy Craddock Burke educational grant from FLEPPC, but acknowledges support from FWF and County of Volusia.)

Florida Native Wildflowers (8 ½ x 11” color, trifold brochure) Subheadings: Sandhill Wildflowers (color photos and brief descriptions of 9 species); Monarchs and Milkweed (with photos); Volusia Sandhill Wildflower Demonstration Garden; Sandhill Ecosystems; Plant Natives (list of local nurseries and the Florida Wildflower Growing Cooperative website, for seeds).

VI. WILDFLOWER DISPLAY

1. In 2015, the native wildflower demonstration garden planting was best described as: __X___ Extremely successful _____ Moderately successful

_____ Somewhat successful _____ Not successful

2. In 2015, the wildflower display was best described as:

_____ Extremely showy __X___ Moderately showy

_____ Slightly showy _____ Not very showy

3. Please provide any additional comments about the showiness of the wildflower display. (Optional)

3. List those species with which you had the most success. Partridge pea (Chamaecrista fasciculata) Ironweed (Vernonia angustifolia) Sweet goldenrod (Solidago odora) Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) Palafoxia Twinflower

4. List those species that did not succeed or do as well as anticipated.

Of the eight species in the Super Nova scrub mix only partridge pea was successful.

5. If any part of your planting was not successful, please explain why it failed (e.g. succumbed to weed

pressure, accidental mowing, flooding, etc.), what you are doing to help re-establish it, and how you are educating the public about the failed planting.

Until bahia grass and other invasives have been completely removed from the entire site, the understory plantings will continue to struggle with competition from weeds. Maintenance of wildflower beds is conducted by volunteers and through sporadic work days, which allow for education. We have started seeds in a bed and plan to transplant seedlings in early spring. Two seed-starting workshops have been held – in fall, during campus service-learning, and this month, as part of Lyonia Chapter, FNPS programming. Similar opportunities will be offered throughout the year.

VII. MEDIA COVERAGE 1. Were any stories published in a newspaper or newsletter that described the wildflower demonstration

garden, including information about the environmental, historical and/or cultural significance of Florida’s native wildflowers?

For a range of events—Science Saturdays, Workdays, Sidewalk Opening, etc—articles about or references to the Demonstration Garden appeared in Gillespie Museum newsletters or electronic updates (with a distribution of 485 members, friends, and community supporters): 1/27/15; 2/16/15; 3/8/15; 4/30/15; 5/11/15; 9/20/15; 10/13/15; 11/17; and 12/1. Simultaneous to these postings, announcements were made through Stetson University’s website, with an outreach of over 20,000 subscribers.

2. Was any coverage given by a local tv station that described the wildflower demonstration garden, including information about the environmental, historical and/or cultural significance of Florida’s native wildflowers? None to date

3. Were any stories published on a website that described the wildflower demonstration garden, including information about the environmental, historical and/or cultural significance of Florida’s native wildflowers?

Stetson Today: “Gillespie Museum Awarded Grant” (July 30, 2014) http://www.stetson.edu/today/2014/07/gillespie-museum-awarded-grant/ Gillespie Museum Website: Volusia Sandhill Teaching Landscape http://www.stetson.edu/other/gillespie-museum/vse/index.php

4. Were any video stories posted on YouTube or other online video site that described the wildflower demonstration garden, including information about the environmental, historical and/or cultural significance of Florida’s native wildflowers? None to date

5. If other outreach methods were used, please describe the results. (Optional)

Class projects: Spring 2015 Biology 101 and EN 234 (Nature Writing) student volunteers. Fall 2015: Biology 375 class projects, including planting native orchid garden; planting Wildflower Study Site; installing 20 storyboard signs; and over 200 volunteer hours with educational programs as well as weeding and mulching.

Research: April 2015 student presentations, Stetson Undergraduate Research Showcase: Acidic soils benefit seedling growth in two perennial plant species native to the Florida sandhill ecosystem, Deja Rivera

Herbicide effectiveness on weeds in longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) Florida sandhill and its effect on germination of wiregrass (Aristida stricta), Breanna Mott

November 2015: Longleaf Pine Ecosystem Restoration on a College Campus: The Power and Empowerment of Volunteers, Karen Cole and Cindy Bennington Natural Areas Conference, Little Rock , Arkansas November 2015: Sandhill Science: Restoration and Research in the Gillespie Museum’s Sandhill Ecosystem. Research presentations: Ben Chase , The effect of herbivory on floral volatile production: a bioassay with honeybees; Stephanos Alichos,The effect of seeds and

seedlings of an aggressive weed (Bidens alba) on the germination of native perennials; Tabitha Petri , The effect of soil microbes on seedling establishment of a sandhill perennial, Liatris tenuifolia.

http://www.stetson.edu/today/2014/07/gillespie-museum-awarded-grant/

http://www.stetson.edu/other/gillespie-museum/vse/index.php

VIII. IMPACT The impact of your native wildflower demonstration garden is very important to the Foundation. This section will help us evaluate how much and what type of information people learned from visiting the native wildflower demonstration planting and/or attending a native wildflower educational program at your garden.

1. How well does your demonstration garden and its associated educational programming and materials provide to visitors information on the following topics:

Provides very much

information

Provides a good

amount of information

Provides some

information

Provides very little

information

Provides no information

on this topic

Landscape uses for native wildflowers and plants

X

Availability of native wildflowers and plants

X

Environmental significance of native wildflowers and plants

X

Historical significance of native wildflowers and plants

X

Cultural significance of native wildflowers and plants

X

2. Provide examples of how your demonstration garden and related programming/materials address the following:

a. Landscape uses for native wildflowers and plants Brochures (Why Plant Native? and Florida Native Wildflowers) include information about wildflowers that are appropriate for home gardens. Planned interpretive sign provides information about variety of available wildflowers b. Availability of native wildflowers and plants Brochures list local nurseries where wildflowers can be purchased and provides web address for the Florida Wildflower Growers Cooperative. c. Environmental significance of native wildflowers and plants Signs, both large and small, and brochures emphasize the importance of native ecosystems and wildflowers. Programming for Stetson students as well as members of the broader community, including K-6 visitors has approached in varied ways: pollination, seed saving, ecosystem restoration, etc. d. Historical significance of native wildflowers and plants One large interpretive sign describes history of the longleaf pine sandhill ecosystem and associated flowering plants in Volusia County. e. Cultural significance of native wildflowers and plants There is some information about human impacts on native wildflowers on our interpretive signs. Storyboard signs include some interpretation as well (symbolism of plants, etymology, etc.).

2. Write a brief narrative about visitor impressions as well as the impact of the native wildflower demonstration planting and related educational programming.

As planned, the Viva Florida Landscape Demonstration Garden has become the highly visible, southern entrance to the Volusia Sandhill Ecosystem. The site, roughly a 50m x 10m area, now features 35 native Florida wildflowers associated with the longleaf sandhill ecosystem and welcomes visitors to the environmental projects throughout the museum grounds. In October 2015, a paved walking path, bordered by 7 interpretive signs, was installed on site, providing a broad ecosystem context for the wildflower display. In addition, the newly planted Wildflower Study Site (not anticipated in the earlier plans for the demonstration garden) now offers a paved loop with ample space for educational programming.

Much of the work of the last fifteen months has been to establish the demonstration garden, almost entirely with volunteer labor. There are now walking paths, interpretive signs, storyboards, plant labels, and brochures in place. Additional signs are in various stages of development; the webpages are continually updated; and educational programming will always be works in progress. Assessment of visitors’ and volunteers’ impressions has been informal, and mostly anecdotal (and something which in the next phase can be more formalized).

Two slightly more intentional evaluations, administered in November 2015, indicate the progress and the importance of this site to campus.

From course evaluations of Biology 375 (Junior Seminar):

One question asked the students who had been involved in planting, maintaining and interpreting the Volusia Sandhill throughout a semester, to identify what knowledge of this ecosystem they had gained from their semester projects. Comments revealed that they had learned to recognize and appreciate important key features of the ecosystem—that it is pyrogenic; the sandy soil is not rich in nutrients; the ways its plant community is adapted to dry conditions. In addition, the answers indicated an awareness of longleaf sandhill ecosystem loss, and its impact on native plant diversity.

An even more revealing set of comments were to the question, “Would you recommend the Volusia Sanhill as a place for fellow students or family members to learn about native ecosystems? Explain why or why not.” All students responded “yes,” noting (1) its proximity to campus and community and general accessibility; (2) its value for conservation education, especially about Volusia County; (3) its diversity of plant species, not seen in urban settings; and (4) that it is “conservation in action.” A good summary statement: “because it is and is not wild.”

From Sandhill Scavenger Hunt:

Fifty-three undergraduates from the general population elected to visit the museum and grounds for this “scavenger hunt,” a guided gallery walk of Peter May’s photographs of mature longleaf sandhill ecosystems and a short hike through the Volusia Sandhill restoration, including the demonstration garden. Students were asked, as the last question, to “write something new you learned.” Most of the answers clustered around these topics: the history and age of longleaf ecosystems; the importance of fire; and species diversity.

But a number of comments focused on the use and appearance of pine straw mulch (not used elsewhere on campus); four noted “dead plants” (this was in late November and early December); and one student described the sandhill as “weird and wild,” a compliment to a site on the corner of a highly cultivated and well-maintained university campus. One student offered this comment, a high mark: “Though I’ve lived in Volusia County for my entire life and have been surrounded by longleaf pines, I’d not recognized the importance of this ecosystem.”

IX. 2016 PLANS

Although your obligations to the Foundation with regard to the Viva Florida grant will end once your final report is approved, we hope that you intend to use and maintain your demonstration garden throughout 2016 and beyond. The Foundation is interested in knowing more about your plans for programming and maintenance in the coming year(s). Please include as much information as is known regarding the following: 1. 2016 maintenance plan or schedule for the demonstration garden; indicate whether maintenance will

be provided by volunteers, staff, or a combination of both Turf grass areas will continue to be maintained by the grounds crew of Stetson University. The wildflower plantings in the Demonstration Garden, as through the entire Sandhill Ecosystem, will be maintained through undergraduate and community volunteers, including Stetson’s Sandhill Gang and the Lyonia Chapter of the Florida Native Plant Society.

2. 2016 plan or schedule for educational programming and materials that relate to or will incorporate the demonstration garden

For the first two quarters: Spring 2016:

March-April Biology (Flora of Florida) will install a new garden site, Florida Botanical Explorers

March Science Saturday at the Gillespie: Pollination Workshop

April Science Saturday: Earth Day Sustainability Showcase

May Association of Nature Centers of America/Florida Region meeting hosted by the Gillespie and held at the Rinker Environmental Learning Center

May Presentation

June Outdoor Classrooms (Summer Programming)

June Pollination Study on site, Cindy Bennington and Peter May

June/July Citizen Science Bench for RELC (based on Bennington and May study)

Fall 2016: Special Issue of Southeastern Naturalist, Conservation, Restoration and Education: In situ natural history education. Edited by Cindy Bennington and Karen Cole; Introduced by Reed Noss. (Will include an article about collaboration and education in the Volusia Sandhill by Bennington and Cole)

IX. ATTACHMENT CHECKLIST The following items are required and should be uploaded using the following link: https://flawildflowers.wufoo.com/forms/viva-florida-grant-final-report-and-attachments/ Place a check next to each item to indicate that it has been uploaded. If you choose to upload additional items not included on this list, please add them to the list before submitting this report.

Uploaded Item Instructions Acceptable

file type

x

Itemized expense report for entire project

Note in the report if and how expenses vary from initially submitted budget.

Excel or Word

x

Receipts for all related expenses Scan all related receipts and combine into a single PDF

PDF

x

Final design plan for the demonstration garden

Indicate above (III. 3.) if and how the plan varies from the original plan submitted with your application

PDF or JPG

x

Photo 1: "Before" photo of demonstration garden site

Must be 300 dpi and sharply focused; preferred size is 8"x10"

JPG

x

Photo 2: Installation of demonstration garden


JPG

x

Photo 3: "After" photo of completed installation


JPG

x

Photo 4: Photo showing any of the following:

overview of garden in bloom

educational program taking place in garden

volunteers working in garden


JPG

x






JPG

x






JPG

x

Newspaper or newsletter article (if applicable)

PDF or JPG

x Other: FL wildflower brochure x Other: Additional photos Other: Other: x Final report (i.e. this document) Make sure you save and upload this

document! Word

https://flawildflowers.wufoo.com/forms/viva-florida-grant-final-report-and-attachments/

Before

During planting/seeding

After the installation

Proposed Wildflower Demonstra3on Garden

Containerized plants Seed Beds Interpre3ve sign

Exis3ng perennials

Pollina3on garden na3ve nectar and larval food sources

Wiregrass

Other projects on site

Bee hives HaEer Harvest Organic Garden Future Informa3on kiosk (funded) Future wiregrass (funded)

Organic Garden

RELC Gillespie Museum

Research Screen house

Wildflower Study Site

Super Nova

Partridge Pea

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